Combat Veterans For Congress---Embedded Integrity

The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing the 110th Combat Veteran for Congress in the last 8 years; he is a fiscally conservative candidate who will work to rein in spending, reduce the national debt, and eliminate the burdensome regulations that are harming wages and killing jobs. He believes in an efficient government that serves the people and upholds the highest standards of integrity and transparency.   

Capt Mike Gallagher, USMC, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, won a 3-way primary with 74% of the vote for the Republican nomination in Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District. Congressman Reid Ribble (R-WI), who is retiring at the end of this term, currently holds the seat and has publicly endorsed Gallagher.  

Mike is a seventh generation Wisconsin native, born at St. Mary’s hospital in Green Bay. He comes from a large Irish Catholic family who first came to Northeast Wisconsin in 1845, and remains there to this day. His grandfather, father, godfather, and sister are all obstetricians and are responsible for delivering approximately 20,000 babies in Wisconsin. Twenty years ago, Mike’s father and uncles also started Gallagher’s Pizza, when they turned an old cheese factory into a restaurant. Mike grew up working in this family business, bussing tables, bartending, and delivering Pizza to the Packers’ locker room. To this day, there are three Gallagher’s Pizzas in Green Bay, WI. 

Mike Gallagher joined the United States Marine Corps on June 5, 2006, the day he graduated from Princeton University. While at Princeton, Mike majored in Near Eastern Studies and Arabic. Mike completed Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia during the summer between his junior and senior year. Upon being commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, Mike attended an Arabic immersion program at Middlebury College before reporting into the Basic Officer’s Course (TBS) in Quantico, Virginia.  2ndLt Gallagher graduated from TBS as the Honor Graduate of Fox Company in April of 2007. He went on to attend the Marine Air/Ground Task Force Counterintelligence/Human Intelligence Basic Course in July 2007 where he was the Honor Graduate, and his team won the Gunnery Sergeant Ronald E. Baum Teamwork Award, upon completion in August 2007. 

2ndLt Gallagher then checked in to 1st Intelligence Battalion in Camp Pendleton, CA, and immediately deployed to Iraq’s Al Anbar province in September of 2007. During this deployment, 2ndLt Gallagher was a Human Intelligence Exploitation Team Commander serving in general support of Regimental Combat Team-2 Assessment, where he conducted over 100 tactical interrogations and supported over 38 regimental Aero Scout missions. He redeployed in April of 2008 back to Camp Pendleton and immediately deployed again one month later. During his second deployment Mike was promoted to 1stLt on May 26th, 2008 and served in direct support of Task Force 2/2 in the border town of Al Qaim, Iraq as a Human Intelligence Exploitation Team Commander. Upon 1stLt Gallagher’s return from his second deployment, he was temporarily assigned to General Petraeus’ Central Command Assessment Team—serving at both CENTCOM Forward HQ in Qatar and National Defense University—where he was the only Company Grade Officer participating in this comprehensive review of the CENTCOM AOR.  

1stLt Gallagher was then selected to participate in the Marine Corps Junior Officer Strategic Intelligence Program. He attended the Marine Air/Ground Task Force Intelligence Officer’s Course in Dam Neck, VA, where he was the Honor Graduate upon completion of the course in August 2009. He then attended National Defense Intelligence College (now National Intelligence University) and graduated in July 2010 with a Master’s of Science in Strategic Intelligence and was the winner of the Naval Intelligence Foundation Award for Academic Excellence.  

He achieved the rank of Captain on July 1, 2010. Captain Gallagher then spent three years working in the U.S. intelligence community, including joint tours in the National Counterterrorism Center Operations Center, the Drug Enforcement Agency Special Operations Division, the U.S. Agency for International Development Innovation and Development Alliance, and the College of International Security Affairs. During this time, Mike earned a Master’s Degree in Security Studies and Government from Georgetown University. Capt Gallagher was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps on August 31, 2013. During his career on active duty, Capt. Gallagher earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. He was also named a Center for a New American Security “Next Generation National ?Security Leader,” a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies National Security Fellow, and a “Top 99 under 33 Foreign Policy Leader” by the Diplomatic Courier. 

As a civilian, Mike served from September 2013 to February 2015 as the Republican Professional Staff Member for Middle East/North Africa and Counterterrorism on the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In this capacity, he was the lead expert for over 20 countries including Iran, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, and for global counterterrorism operations. He was responsible for conducting State Department/USAID oversight and, as a Captain in Marine Corps Reserves, served as part of the Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Development Group. 

In February 2015 Mike returned to Wisconsin to serve as the Foreign Policy Director and National Security Adviser for Governor Scott Walker’s Presidential Campaign, which included planning and executing the Governor’s first trip to Israel and managing the Governor’s National Security Advisory Council. When the campaign ended in September 2015, Mike returned to Green Bay and accepted a position as the Senior Global Market Strategist for Breakthrough Fuel, a Green Bay based energy and supply chain management company, competing in 48 countries around the world, where Mike still works. Mike also received his PhD in International Relations from Georgetown University, where his dissertation focused on presidential-decision making and the conditions under which presidents and Congress make major foreign policy changes. He has published articles on foreign policy in Intelligence and National Security, The National Interest, Parameters, and The Marine Corps Gazette. 

Mike is a member of the American Legion, the VFW, and the National Rifle Association. Mike’s endorsements include: Ambassador John Bolton, Ambassador Richard Graber, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Governor Scott Walker, Conservative radio hosts Charlie Sykes, Jerry Bader and Hugh Hewitt, Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (USA), State Representative Al Ott, State Representative John Macco, Medal of Honor winner Major General James Flynn (USMC), The Support and Defend PAC, the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC, the George Washington Leadership Foundation, Brown County Sheriff John Gossage, Calumet County Sheriff Mark Ott, Door County Sheriff Steven Delarwelle, Kewaunee County Sheriff Matthew Joski, Marinette County Sheriff Jerry Sauve, Menominee County Sheriff Robert Summers, Oconto County Sheriff Mike Jansen, Outagamie County Sheriff Brad Gehring, Shawano County Sheriff Adam Bieber, Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel, and Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz.   

The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is pleased to endorse former Captain Mike Gallagher, USMC, who will bring to Congress a combination of national security experience, private sector skills, and a strong academic background. If you review Capt Gallagher’s positions on his web site, you would be pleased with his stands; they agree with the Combat Veterans For Congress Mission Statement.  We look forward to working with Capt Gallagher, and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his caliber is running for Congress.  If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters in the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin, kindly pass this E-mail on to them, and ask them to support Capt Gallagher by working on his campaign, providing financial support for his campaign in any amount, and/or by networking with others who would be willing to support his campaign.  The military is one of the few remaining institutions producing the caliber of men and women needed to restore this nation to the greatness our Founding Fathers envisioned.  We have endorsed another Combat Veteran For Congress that General George Washington would have approved of. He is a Veteran who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”